New episode in the saga of the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. Justice, which is already largely involved in the transaction, would now investigate one of the two protagonists.
Legal documents made public on October 13 reveal that Twitter accuses Elon Musk of currently being the target of a federal investigation. This information is disputed by the principal concerned, and his lawyers indicate that on the contrary, it is the executives of the social network who focus the attention of the American authorities.
The SEC has long been interested in Elon Musk’s shares
This is not the first time, far from it, that the activities of Elon Musk have attracted the attention of the Security and Exchange Commission, the American policeman for financial transactions. He has already been accused several times in the past of artificially driving up the price of Tesla or Dogecoin via announcements on Twitter. It is therefore not surprising that this institution is very interested in the proposed takeover of the social network, for 44 billion dollars, by the boss of Tesla. And that was the case even before the deal fell through for the first time.
During the trial, one of the documents made public indicates that Twitter accuses its potential buyer of being the target of federal investigations, without specifying what he is suspected of, or even which institution is behind it. It must be said that several documents that were requested by the courts from Musk were not delivered. His lawyers mentioned that these should remain confidential, because they were the subject of an investigation. Difficult, under these conditions, to refute today the existence of these investigations… unless admitting a refusal to deliver documents that justice and the representation of Twitter had required.
What we do know is that as part of this proposed transaction, the SEC has already questioned Elon Musk. She accused him of having deliberately withheld certain information in his takeover offer, and also of not having revealed beforehand that he already owned 9% of the company.
Mirror, mirror, respond Musk’s lawyers
For Alex Spiro, one of the lawyers of the South African businessman, these accusations are false and intended to create a smokescreen. The objective of the maneuver, according to him? Divert public attention from federal investigations targeting senior Twitter executives, which are very real, he assures us.
He also did not specify the nature of these, and Twitter has not yet commented on Alex Spiro’s statements.
Sources: Reuters, The Guardian
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